Saturday, October 20, 2007

Saturday 10/20 (Very) Quickie

Rick Reilly leaving SI for ESPN: See end of post.

ALCS Game 6 in Boston: Do or die for Red Sox. And they've got Schilling on the mound, in what could be his final performance in/for Boston. (There's a Shanoff-Schilling connection to announce, coming Monday.)

Torre has his say, and he's "insulted": And the Yankees lose the PR game, in the same way they've lost in the playoffs the last seven seasons.

Royals hire Trey Hillman as manager: Sorry, but "Who?"

UConn beats Louisville: Sorry, but UL's Kragthorpe should be fired, not just for the many losses this season, but specifically for not yanking his team off the field after the "Fair Catch TD." It cost the Cards the game. (Side note: How is a fair-catch signal NOT REVIEWABLE?! Biggest myth in CFB propagated by TV announcers: "Every play" is reviewable. That's absolutely inaccurate.)

CFB Today: 3:30 ET is a big time slot. Florida at Kentucky on CBS, Michigan State at Ohio State on ABC. If/when Kentucky beats Florida, would you rank them as the top 1-loss team? I would.

NBA: Would you trade Dirk for Kobe straight up, if you were Mark Cuban? I know he's loyal to Dirk, but the Mavs have gone as far as Dirk can take them. I would do this in a second. Why would a marketing mind as savvy as Cuban's turn this down?

(And it is a great deal for the Lakers, too: It's easier to find a guard to complement Dirk than a big man to complement Kobe. On the other hand, maybe Cuban thinks Dirk is more valuable than Kobe; not quite sure how he comes to that conclusion, however. I guess because he's built the rest of his team around a versatile big man, not a scoring guard.)

NHL: Are the Columbus Blue Jackets the NHL's Colorado Rockies? Not until they take that fast start, put it at the END of the season and streak through the playoffs.

Rick Reilly leaving SI for ESPN: I know ESPN has coveted Reilly for years, so this is a big deal, because of his name and formerly hallowed place among sports-media types. But do they really need him? Does Reilly really move the needle with consumers under the age of 30, as he does with consumers over the age of 40? That's debatable.

The question, of course, is how ESPN will use him. Obviously, he's leaving for the TV opportunities. Will they give him his own show? Put him on "Around the Horn?" A guest-sub on "PTI?" On "Monday Night Football" halftime? On "E:60?" Online video, like "Riffs of Reilly?" Most assuredly on ESPN.com (Page 2?) and ESPN the Magazine (front-of-the-book column?) Or maybe not, if The Big Lead's accounts are right. Probably an ESPN Books deal and a Disney movie deal thrown in for fun. Gotta reach that $2 million figure somehow.

And what next for SI? If they were smart, they would take advantage of the opportunity to turn the back page of the magazine into the amazing, must-read spot it was BEFORE Reilly was the permanent guy there: Rotate the columnists each week, with each one offering something truly provocative. Make it online-friendly -- turn it into a hub of SI.com. (But it certainly steals the thunder from the Dan Patrick signing. Memo to SI: A notable -- cough -- "other" Dan is still available! And cheap!)

It's going to be a feast of sports-media navel-gazing and inside baseball. Just so you're prepared. (h/t Big Lead, Neil Best, Sandomir)

As much as Dan loves niche sports I'm surprised he hasn't mentioned the Rugby World Cup even once. I mean it is the thrid most watched sporting event in the world behind the Olympics and the World Cup. You would think he'd have at least passing interest in the final today.

Dan, did you actually come that close to picking UK to beat the Gators? Wow. And I kept wondering about that Hillman guy, too, but I finally caved in and clicked on the link on the (you know the site) front page. He's been managing the Ham Fighters (I love that team to death and I've never seen them play) in Japan and he was a Yankees minor league manager before that. He was one of the lead candidates to replace Joe Torre. So it's just more Yankees news from the Worldwide Leader in Yankees coverge.

The 'Cats are good, but a home win over a mediocre team that was overrated in the preseason doesn't confer "best 1-loss team in the country" status - Dan's homerism to his adopted bandwagon team notwithstanding.

By Torre saying he is insulted, he is in effect insulting every fan who goes to work and earns a normal salary. I can understand and even respect him not accepting the offer. When Pinella is the second highest paid manager at $3.5M and Torre is starting at $5M/year with $1M extra for each round of the playoffs, Torre is just being a greedy SOB. I would take the job if just for the playoff bonuses. I think these people's egos get just a little too big sometimes.

Steve, I have been trying to keep everyone up on the Rugby World Cup. See my comments on Friday. I don't want to look at who won yet since I want to watch the coverage on Versus tomorrow evening on tape delay.

Can we still say "Tape Delay" when nobody uses actual tape anymore? Can we still call a song on a CD a track?

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.